1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a ferrite-ceramic composite powder and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Ceramics have a melting point higher than that of metals, and sintering or melting a powdery ceramic material to manufacture a ceramic product requires heating at high temperatures. In an effort to solve such a problem, researches and studies have been made to manufacture a ceramic product by sintering super-fine ceramic particles having a grain size in the order of the angstrom unit. However, a satisfactory method of manufacturing such a ceramic product has not been developed yet. Further, in order to manufacture a multicomponent composite product having a sufficiently homogeneous microstructure consisting of a plurality of kinds of components, it is necessary to sufficiently homogeneously blend the plural kinds of components. However, homogeneous blending of fine particles of such components has been physically difficult. Accordingly, it has been difficult to obtain a composite product in which the fine particles of the components are sufficiently homogeneously and perfectly blended to satisfy the designed physical properties and functional requirements.
On the other hand, ferrites, which are oxides, have excellent magnetic characteristics and are widely used in various kinds of electromagnetic devices as a magnetic material. However, due to the necessity for thorough blending of impurity-free components at a predetermined composition ratio for the production of a ferrite showing excellent magnetic characteristics, production of the ferrite having a very high purity capable of sufficiently exhibiting the desired magnetic characteristics has been encountered with the problem of the price.